Quote:
Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel
It wasn't and isn't my place to determine someone's documented disability but to be as reasonable with accommodating them while providing a positive and pleasant shopping experience. Sure there is an off chance someone was BSing me, but better to not offend someone and get bad press than to make an exception. Granted I worked this job in college and was familiar with Autism and Aspbergers, so I am a bit more in tune, but offending the customers was something to be avoided. I worked for a company that competes with Walmart so the prices may be a bit higher but people chose the store for our policies and procedures, and a lot of that was the customer service.
I also filled in as a supervisor when there wasn't a manager on duty, and from the cart catcher to the regional manager the first part of training was always to make the customer happy and to get them to return. They were aware of the impact of one person bad mouthing the company and the ripple effect, so we tried to avoid those situations. it was always bad when an entry level employee would follow policy and a manager would undermine them. I like that I can make choices to help a customer, and that I could say "This is the policy I am supposed to follow, but I am happy to call a manager as I do not have the authority to deviate from it, just one moment and they will come help you." It kept my morale and self esteem intact, the customer would still respect me, and I would not get in trouble as the manager made the next move and would have to answer to corporate.
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I may be a bit jaded, as the majority of my customers at BBV set out to BS me.
On paper, it makes sense to try to be as accomodating as possible. But that can lead to more problems ("Well, you just let
those two girls in together! Why can't WE go in? Fine, then I have autism, too!").
And as much as I wanted to maintain the company image, I was more concerned about keeping my job.